DeMaurice Smith, the executive director of the NFL Players Association, reached out to Andrew Whitworth and Richard Sherman during Amazon's Thursday Night Football broadcast.

The biggest concern coming out of the game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Miami Dolphins is whether or not Tua Tagovailoa should have been playing.

Smith texted the following message to Whitworth and Sherman: "We insisted on these rules to avoid exactly this scenario. We will pursue every legal option, including making referrals against the doctors to licensing agencies and the team that is obligated to keep our players safe."

Tagovailoa appeared to suffer a concussion during the Dolphins' Week 3 game.

Former Dallas Cowboys tight end Gavin Escobar was found dead Wednesday in an apparent rock climbing accident.

The Riverside County (California) sheriff's coroner's office on Thursday identified Escobar, 31, along with one other climber, 33-year-old Chelsea Walsh. 

Officials indicated Escobar and Walsh died at the scene while climbing a "rock face."

Escobar was the Cowboys' second-round pick in 2013 and spent three seasons with them.

Tua Tagovailoa was taken to a local hospital with head and neck injuries suffered on a second-quarter sack in Thursday night's game between the Miami Dolphins and Cincinnati Bengals.

Tagovailoa hit the back of his head on the ground when he was sacked by Josh Tupou. His arms appeared to seize up almost immediately. 

He remained on the field for roughly 10 minutes before he was loaded onto a stretcher and taken away.

The Dolphins said just before halftime that he was conscious and had movement in all his extremities at the hospital. After the game, they said Tagovailoa was expected to be released from the hospital Thursday night and travel back to Miami with the team.

Mike McDaniel said Tagovailoa called for him when he went down.

"I could tell it wasn't the same guy that I was used to seeing," McDaniel said. "It was a scary moment. He was evaluated for a concussion. He's in the concussion protocol, but he's being discharged.

"It's an emotional moment. It's not a part of the deal you sign up for. His teammates and myself were very concerned, but he got checked out and it's nothing more serious than a concussion."

The NFL has announced that Sunday night's game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers will continue to be held at Raymond James Stadium as originally scheduled.

U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis had been selected as a contingency site for the game after the Buccaneers had evacuated the area because of Hurricane Ian.

"Our thoughts and prayers remain with the many thousands in the Southwest Florida region who have been severely impacted by Hurricane Ian," the Bucs said in a statement. "We are also very thankful that the Tampa Bay area was spared the most damaging consequences of this powerful storm.

"We have informed the NFL, after consulting with local and state agencies, that we are ready to play Sunday night's game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Raymond James Stadium as originally scheduled."

Davante Adams is on pace for another productive season, but the Las Vegas Raiders are 0-3 and his impact on the field hasn't been as big as expected.

Adams was targeted 17 times in Week 1, but Derek Carr has thrown his way a total of 17 times over the last two weeks.

"At the end of the day, I'm going to listen to Josh [McDaniels], and my progressions, and what he's telling me in the game," Carr said. "We're trying to set things up to get the ball in a certain place and it takes repetition. It takes time. This is only three games into us playing together, again. It hasn't been all bad."

Odell Beckham, Jr. took to social media recently to complain about the turf fields across the NFL.

After watching New York Giants wide receiver Sterling Shepard suffer a season-ending knee injury while running a route, Beckham weighed in on the situation.

"Just get rid of it all the fkngether bro," Beckham tweeted of turf fields. "Billions made off this game I can't understand why we can't play on grass. That shxt is rough. Prayers up for my brother. Shxt just hurt my heart."

Beckham was teammates with Shepard from 2016-18. He suffered a torn ACL while playing for the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium in Super Bowl LVI, which has artificial turf. 

The Los Angeles Chargers have placed Joey Bosa and Rashawn Slater on injured reserve.

Bosa suffered a groin tear in Week 3 against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The edge rusher will undergo surgery, but Brandon Staley said it's anticipated that he will return this season.

"It's going to be a ways, but we expect him to come back," Staley said. "He's optimistic and ready to attack it. He's in a really good frame of mind. It's never easy when you have an injury like that."

At left tackle, Slater tore his left biceps tendon, causing him to undergo season-ending surgery.

The Philadelphia Eagles will use DeVonta Smith as a punt returner from time-to-time this season.

The second-year receiver returned the first punt of his career on Sunday against the Washington Commanders.

Nick Sirianni said he put Smith in, rather than Britain Covey, because he thought the Eagles could use a big play. Smith returned the punt 12 yards.

"We wanted a little spark," Sirianni said. "It wasn't a slight by any means on Britain. We just wanted to get the ball in DeVonta's hands when they were backed up. He did a nice job of getting some yardage off of that."

Smith had eight catches for 169 yards and a touchdown in Week 3.

"We'll see how that goes, what that turns into," Sirianni said. "As of right now, it's a spot thing. But who knows? We'll see how that goes, continue to see how the season goes."

Clay Matthews always believed he'd play his entire career with the Green Bay Packers.

When he left after 10 years to play a season with the Los Angeles Rams, Matthews still thought he'd end his career with the Packers.

"I would have loved to finish my career there," Matthews said. "Based on my discussions after that 2018 season, I thought we were going to continue moving forward. But yeah the manner in which it did kinda caught me by surprise. Ultimately it is what it is. I had fun in my year in L.A. It was a blast getting to go home and play with some incredible players."

Matthews said after the 2018 season the Packers told him he would still be in their plans. However, once they signed pass-rushers Za'Darius Smith and Preston Smith in free agency, he knew it was over. 

He is the Packers' all-time sack leader.

"Everyone knows me from my time in Green Bay," said Matthews, who had 83.5 of his 91.5 career sacks with the Packers. "The 10 years I played with the Packers were a lot more than the one year I played with the Rams."

The Buffalo Bills have added depth to their secondary by signing Xavier Rhodes to the practice squad, a source has confirmed.

Rhodes appeared to confirm the news with a tweet on Tuesday night.

Rhodes, 32, most recently played for the Indianapolis Colts from 2020-21, starting 29 games over two seasons. He spent the first seven years of his career with the Minnesota Vikings.